OUCH! Free Content gets hurt by enabled Ad Blockers

Ottawa-based IT asset management services provider AssetMetrix Inc. announced Thursday an offering that allows customers to determine if any of their deployed Microsoft Windows XP installations are using pirated volume license product keys.

Available now, the AssetMetrix Windows XP Pirated Key report allows clients preparing to install Microsoft’s recently released Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) to identify these pirated license product keys and make necessary adjustments, the company said. [Please see Windows XP service pack close at hand.]

Mississauga, Ont.-based Microsoft Canada Co. has included anti-piracy functions within Windows XP SP1 that prevents installation of the Service Pack if pirated volume license product keys are identified. The service pack consists of updated security enhancements, bug fixes and features for the operating system.

The Windows XP Pirated Key report identifies both the pirated product key as well as the PC on which it is installed, AssetMetrix said.

Windows XP based PCs with pirated product keys won’t accept the Service Pack, which presents a security risk within the corporation, said AssetMetrix President Paul Bodnoff.

“The biggest challenge in managing IT in any organization is ensuring that operating systems and corresponding service packs are applied across the enterprise at the same time,” Bodnoff said in a prepared statement, adding that the offering is designed to reduce service costs and deployment delays by quickly identifying the offending PCs before deploying the Service Pack across the enterprise.

The solution is also “topology transparent,” which enables corporations to inventory their mobile workforce, remote branch offices and LAN PCs, the company added.

AssetMetrix said its subscription customers will be able to use the report to find the individual installations and take appropriate action. AssetMetrix subscription packages range in price from US$3 to US$15 per PC.